A prosecution witness in the corruption trial of three former soccer officials testified on Wednesday that Mexico's Grupo Televisa and Brazil's Globo took part in a US$15 million bribe to a FIFA executive to secure media rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cup tournaments.
Alejandro Burzaco, the former head of sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias, testified for a second day in a United States court, adding details to Tuesday's testimony that Televisa, Globo and Fox Sports had been involved in bribery.
In the first trial to be heard in a US investigation of bribery surrounding FIFA, soccer's world governing body, Burzaco told jurors in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday that Torneos, Televisa and Globo paid the bribe to Julio Humberto Grondona, a FIFA executive who died in 2014.
Burzaco said Torneos and Fox Sports, a unit of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., were partners in a sports marketing venture, T&T Sports Marketing Ltd.
Fox Sports spokeswoman Terri Hines said Tuesday that the T&T partnership was with a Fox Sport affiliate, Fox Pan American Sports, that was majority-owned by a private equity firm, and that Fox Sports had "no operational control" over T&T.
"Any suggestion that Fox Sports knew of approved of any bribes is emphatically false," she said.
Globo said on Tuesday that it "does not practice nor tolerate the payment of bribes," and would cooperate with US authorities. It could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.
A Televisa spokesman on Wednesday denied "any wrongdoing" in the case. "In partjcular, Grupo Televisa in no way knew of, or condoned, any bribe or other improper conduct," spokesman Alejandro Olmos wrote in an email.
The three media companies have not been charged in the US case.
Reuters/New York
Alejandro Burzaco, the former head of sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias, testified for a second day in a United States court, adding details to Tuesday's testimony that Televisa, Globo and Fox Sports had been involved in bribery.
In the first trial to be heard in a US investigation of bribery surrounding FIFA, soccer's world governing body, Burzaco told jurors in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday that Torneos, Televisa and Globo paid the bribe to Julio Humberto Grondona, a FIFA executive who died in 2014.
Burzaco said Torneos and Fox Sports, a unit of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., were partners in a sports marketing venture, T&T Sports Marketing Ltd.
Fox Sports spokeswoman Terri Hines said Tuesday that the T&T partnership was with a Fox Sport affiliate, Fox Pan American Sports, that was majority-owned by a private equity firm, and that Fox Sports had "no operational control" over T&T.
"Any suggestion that Fox Sports knew of approved of any bribes is emphatically false," she said.
Globo said on Tuesday that it "does not practice nor tolerate the payment of bribes," and would cooperate with US authorities. It could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.
A Televisa spokesman on Wednesday denied "any wrongdoing" in the case. "In partjcular, Grupo Televisa in no way knew of, or condoned, any bribe or other improper conduct," spokesman Alejandro Olmos wrote in an email.
The three media companies have not been charged in the US case.
Reuters/New York
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